The Redskins had their first OTA session that was open to the media under sunny skies and very warm temperatures. Here are some of my observations.

—RB Chris Thompson was on the field but he was in a track suit. He likely will be out until training camp as he rehabs after shoulder surgery.

—Josh Doctson participated only on a very limited basis but he showed off his impressive catch radius. Most think of that in terms of going up for a ball and plucking it out of the air. But on one pass from Cousins Doctson reached back towards the quarterback and grabbed the ball. Had he caught it close to his body the defensive back would have knocked it away.

—Doctson’s participation was very limited as he has a sore Achilles.

—Su’a Cravens lined up with the second team at inside linebacker. It looks like he will be taught the defense from the outside in.

—Willie Jefferson, who has bounced around with the Texans, Bills, and CFL Eskimos, was with the second team at left linebacker. The team is looking for a fourth OLB for the season so keep an eye on Jefferson.

—The first team defensive line was, from left to right, Chris Baker, Kedric Golston, and Kendall Reyes.

—DeAngelo Hall and David Bruton were the safeties with the first team. Jay Gruden said that they are penciled in there with an emphasis on “penciled”. Although it seems like that Hall will stay at free safety it seems that we have a long way to go before we know who the strong will be.

—It was somewhat surprising to see Niles Paul participating in 11 on 11 drills; it was thought that he would wait until training camp for such activities to make sure that his ankle had healed properly. But he was in there and he made a nice catch falling to the ground.

Scandrick, 31, has played for the Cowboys since they made him a fifth-round pick in the 2008 draft. In nine seasons in the league, Scandrick has eight interceptions and seven forced fumbles.

He has been plagued by injuries the last three years. Scandrick was out for the entire 2015 season with a torn ACL. In 2016 he missed four games with a hamstring injury and he finished last season on injured reserve with a back injury. Whether his struggles last year were due to injuries or age remains to be seen.

Scandrick joins Nosh Norman, Quinton Dunbar, Fabian Moreau, and Josh Holsey at cornerback for the Redskins. Holsey is the only natural slot corner in the group and he played very sparingly as a rookie last year. Scandrick likely will fill the slot role until Holsey is ready.

We will see what the signing costs in terms of salary cap impact when we see the details of the contract. The phrase “up to” generally means that there are incentives included in the deal so we will have to see.

In recent years, the Redskins have signed former Cowboys defensive linemen Stephen Bowen, Jason Hatcher, and Terrell McClain.

When the Redskins traded for Alex Smith on January 30, news also broke that he had agreed to a four-year extension with Washington in addition to the one year left on his contract with the Chiefs. While we got some top-line numbers on the deal, we have gone since then without any details.

Until now.

The details show a deal that has a slightly higher cap hit in 2018 than was on his original Chiefs contract and the numbers rise gradually over the life of the deal, which runs through 2022. The top line numbers are five years, $111 million, an average annual value of $22.2 million per year.

Smith got a $27 million signing bonus and his salaries for 2018 ($13 million) and 2019 ($15 million) also are fully guaranteed at signing making the total $55 million (information via Over the Cap, which got data from a report by Albert Breer).

But there is another $16 million that is guaranteed for all practical purposes. On the fifth day of the 2019 league year, his 2020 salary of $16 million becomes fully guaranteed. He almost assuredly will get to the point where that money will become guaranteed since the Redskins are not going to cut him after one year having invested $55 million in him. So the total guarantees come to $71 million.

His 2021 salary is $19 million and it goes up to $21 million in 2022. There have been reports of some incentives available to Smith, but since we have no details, we’ll set those aside for now.

The Redskins can realistically move on from Smith after 2020. There would be net cap savings of $13 million in 2021 and $21 million in 2022.

The first impression of the deal is that the Redskins did not move on from Kirk Cousins because they didn’t want to guarantee a lot of money to a quarterback. The total practical guarantee of $71 million is second only to Cousins’ $82.5 million. It should be noted that Cousins’ deal runs for three years and Smith’s contract is for five.